wo thousand years ago, Roman historianLivy wrote in his monumental history ofRomeAb Urbe Condita Libri("Chaptersfrom the Foundation of the City"): "It istime to dare something bigger." This is especially truetoday, in view of the urgent and daunting challengesconfronting humanity. "Dangers lie in delay," continuedLivy - and he was right. This appeal to boldly tackle solutions with confidenceand energy is tailored to the challenges facing usthroughout the world, and particularly in growing cities,regarding the environment and living conditions. We already consume more resources than our planetcan provide over the long term, and the emissions fromour energy systems are endangering the livingconditions of the entire planet. Considering that anadditional 2.3 billion people will be populating ourplanet by 2050, and will understandably hope forgreater prosperity and a comfortable life, there is a realdanger that the situation will get even worse. The United Nations Environment Program (UNEP)warns that humanity is expected to consume 140 billiontonnes of minerals, ores, fossil fuels and biomass a yearby 2050 - three times the resources used today - andthat energy demand could also double.Nevertheless, we have the ethical obligation to leavesucceeding generations a livable environment. Andthis is possible only if the most important industrialand emerging countries declare sustainableeconomics to be the highest ethical directive and actaccordingly. It must be possible to decouple economicgrowth and improving prosperity from resourceconsumption and also satisfy the soaring demand forenergy while limiting global warming to at least lessthan two degrees Celsius by 2100. In the end, this willmean nothing less than transforming our energy andeconomic system into a culture of sustainability - fullyin the spirit of Livy's "daring something bigger".That this has not succeeded so far is particularlyregrettable, since environmental protection andeconomic growth ceased to be antagonists long ago. Onthe contrary, innovative, environmentally-friendly andenergy-efficient technologies are now a major stimulusfor employment and economic growth. Just to cite oneexample: Germany's Federal Ministry for Environmentstated that over 370,000 people were employed inGermany alone in the field of renewable energies lastyear. That marks a 10 per cent increase over theprevious year, and their number is steadily growing."ITISTIMETODARE SOMETHINGBIGGER"050SMART CITIESPETER LÖSCHER, PRESIDENT OF THE MANAGING BOARD AND CEO, SIEMENS AGT

SMART CITIES051Below right: TheLillgrund offshore windfarm provides greenenergy to Malmö in SwedenBelow left: Siemens AGCEO and President of theManaging Board, Peter LöscherThe country's GDP has been strengthened andemployment boosted thanks in large part to companiesinvolved with the environment. Intensive research anddevelopment has been conducted by industry over thepast decades. Early on, companies sought ways toharmonise environmental protection, resourceefficiency and economic growth with the ideal of alivable world. Highly innovative companies like Siemens havefocused their measures on where they have thegreatest impact - in the cities that consume around 75per cent of the world's energy and account for 80 percent of its greenhouse gas emissions. Since 2007,over half of humanity lives in cities. By 2050, the totalis expected to reach 70 per cent. This will meanroughly three billion urban dwellers more than atpresent - an increase that will almost exclusively takeplace in developing and emerging countries. In Asiaalone, urban populations are currently growing by100,000 people a day. We can expect the dramatic consequences of thisgrowth to be chaotic traffic conditions, environmentalpollution, uncontrolled exploitation of land and failingenergy supplies in many places. The greatestchallenge of our time, then, is to transform our urbancentres into smart, sustainable cities - intointelligently managed, sustainably run cities that arelivable for all people. The keys for achieving this are technologicalinnovations that provide resource-sparing powergeneration, energy-efficient buildings, industrialfacilities and transportation systems as well ascomprehensive healthcare solutions tailored todemographic trends.Outstanding performance in this regard is alreadydemonstrated today by top-ranked cities in the GreenCity Indices. These indices, compiled for Siemens bythe independent consultant Economist IntelligenceUnit, give a picture of the current ecological status of